Mysterious Celestial Object Slams Into Jupiter

Astronomers have captured video evidence of a collision between Jupiter and a small celestial object, likely a comet or asteroid. Though it looks like a small blip of light, the resulting explosion was unusually powerful. As Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy reports, the collision occurred on March 17, but confirmation of the event only emerged this week.

An amateur Austrian astronomer used a 20-centimeter telescope to chronicle the unexpected event, but it could’ve been some kind of visual artifact. A second video taken at the same time with a 28 cm telescope in Ireland has now confirmed it as an actual impact. READ MORE